The Latest from Haiti // Words from Guilot Tibert
Dear Friends,
Thank you for your messages seeking updates on how the current situation in Port-au-Prince is affecting our friends and partners in Petit Trou de Nippes.
While Petit Trou has been spared the violence, fear, and insecurity that has plagued the capital, the downstream impacts are dramatic.
St. Paul’s School now has 596 students enrolled, an increase of over 25 percent from a year ago. Many of these new students have been displaced by violence, refugees forced to flee their neighborhoods in Port-au-Prince.
Guilot Tibert, a teacher and administrator at St. Paul’s School and a key leader in the community, shared the following:
"I can not lie, the situation in the country, broadly speaking, is at a new low. It is sad. I don’t have words for this sadness. Everyone is stressed, and we can't believe how hard things have become. At St. Paul's we now have 596 students, from Pre-K to the end of high school. We are bursting at the seams, and many children have come to Petit Trou from what used to be their homes in Port-au-Prince. They don’t know if or when they’ll be able to go back, and this makes the situation very hard for them. We are sad. But we are grateful to be in a position to help. And to show that our community can be a safe place, a place of refuge."
The cost of food has risen significantly, and we are applying for new grants to strengthen our existing agriculture and food security efforts. Our farming and gardening projects have made a difference, but there is surely hunger in Petit Trou.
Photos / Captions: Jameson Figarot (L) and Schneider Chancy (R) are graduates from St. Paul’s School and Locally Haiti higher education scholarship recipients who now manage agriculture programs at St. Paul’s. Wilda Mondesir, shown here with her husband Jacob, is a community health worker and farmer who expanded her garden and started beekeeping with Locally Haiti support.
We stretch to respond to these challenges while working to close the remaining funding gap on the hospital project, which is more urgent than ever for a growing population. The construction has miraculously moved forward without major issues. Visit the latest photos and videos from the construction site.
Edwidge Danticat once noted that the “Haitian people are very resilient. But it doesn’t mean that they can suffer more than other people.”
The trauma that comes with this current reality is palpable in every conversation I have. This situation is not normal for anyone. In a group WhatsApp chat, I recently read the following, in reference to the possibility of emigrating to the U.S. via boat: “It’s better we take our chances with the sharks than continue this way.”
The people of Petit Trou are safe from the specific horrors we see in the headlines, but they are in no way immune to the current struggles. They are exhausted, tired, and frustrated.
In our communications Locally Haiti focuses on the positive and the possible, as I believe we should.
But we do not seek to paint an unrealistic or idyllic picture. Things are beyond difficult in Petit Trou. And the work of the talented, devoted, creative leaders that we proudly partner with continues within this challenging context.
The funds we send are reaching our partners. Vital programs are not only running, they are expanding. The new hospital is being built as we speak. Our capacity to help remains strong, and the need for that help is greater than ever.
Thank you for believing in this work, and for helping in whatever way you can. Please know it makes a very real difference.
As always, if you have questions or comments, I’d love to hear from you.
With gratitude,
Wynn
P.S. Visit here to learn about our annual event, Evening for Haiti, which will feature in-person updates from leaders in Haiti.